Also if you want to meet him AND play a hand of poker with him he is going to be hosting an underground Poker party for his theater company on January 26th of this month. Anthony J. Ribustello (Dante Greco- Tony's Driver) is going to be in the house as well that night!

I don't know where to appropriately post this but I wonder if anyone else noticed that Robert Funaro (Eugene Pontecorvo) was credited during the opening sequences in his early appearances (begining with the episode when he and Chris are made) yet later - when his role is more prominent (including the key turn in Members Only) he is listed during the closing credits. Did he get a different agent? Did he have a falling-out with David Chase?Did they originally plan an overall expanded role for him or shoot scenes which featured him in the early seasons that were edited out?Several of the commonly recurring characters were given opening billing at some point during season 6.

Billyv wrote:I don't know where to appropriately post this but I wonder if anyone else noticed that Robert Funaro (Eugene Pontecorvo) was credited during the opening sequences in his early appearances (begining with the episode when he and Chris are made) yet later - when his role is more prominent (including the key turn in Members Only) he is listed during the closing credits. Did he get a different agent? Did he have a falling-out with David Chase?Did they originally plan an overall expanded role for him or shoot scenes which featured him in the early seasons that were edited out?Several of the commonly recurring characters were given opening billing at some point during season 6.

That's interesting. I never noticed. I don't know if SAG union rules play some role in what kind of billing an actor is entitled to based on number of lines spoken. But I doubt there was a shift in plans, especially in the sense of there being significant scenes filmed that were never shown. The scripts and seasonal arcs of the show were too well planned out and rigorously adhered to for much of that to go on. So I'd lean toward some other explanation, although I have no idea which one.

Tony, his spirits crushed after b-lining to the fridge first thing in the morning: "Who ate the last piece of cake?"

Thanks for your response, Fly, and Thanks and appreciation for this wonderful site.I doubt that anyone except the producers might be able to explain why this occured with Robert Funaro. I noticed because I love to read cast credits and know who's portraying each role, and when I first saw his name I couldn't figure out who he was playing, as only the closing credits include characters' names. Later, it just seemed odd that his billing was reduced as his role expanded, while others - i.e Joe Gannascoli, Dan Grimaldi - were "promoted" in billing as their significance increased.During Season 6, Toni Kasem, Max Casella, Carl Capotorto, Arthur Nascarella, Sharon Angela and Maureen Van Zandt were all given what appeared to be nods of appreciation with at least one listing in opening credits which did not neccessarily correlate with specific episode prominence.